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† The Glass factory. †
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~,........ Several Centuries After It Had Last ........,~
†~,....... Belonged To Us, We Went On An Outing To .......,~†
††~,...... The Glass Factory That Bore Our Family ......,~††
§††~,..... Name. It Had Changed Owners Many Times .....,~††§
£§††~,.... Since Our Ancestors Death, And Then ....,~††§£
#£§††~,... Stood Abandoned For A Long While. ...,~††§£#
##£§††~,.. Finally, The Natural End Station For ..,~††§£##
###£§††~,. The Buildings That Survive: A Museum, .,~††§£###
##£§††~,.. And A Gift Shop. ..,~††§£##
#£§††~,... ...,~††§£#
£§††~,.... There'S A Long Time Since My Family ....,~††§£
§††~,..... Made Anything. By Many, We Would Be .....,~††§
††~,...... Considered Poor. ......,~††
†~,....... .......,~†
~,........ There Are Two Main Factory Buildings, ........,~
,......... Domed Things Of Several Floors, Made In .........,
.......... Yellow Brick. Large But Narrow Windows, ..........
.......... Reminescent Of Some Cathedral. ..........
.......... Custom-Made Glass, Of Course, Large And ..........
.......... LeadEd, And Ashen. A Bit Too Dark To Be ..........
.......... Practical. On The Eastern Building, ..........
,......... Some Are Shattered. .........,
~,........ ........,~
†~,....... The Other One Is Publicly Open. There'S .......,~†
††~,...... A Museum, With Wax Figures Of My Great ......,~††
§††~,..... Great Great Grandfather, Or Something. .....,~††§
£§††~,.... Various Tools (Or Replicas) Laid Out On ....,~††§£
#£§††~,... Tables, With Explaining Texts. A Lot Of ...,~††§£#
##£§††~,.. Glass Of Varying Thickness. ..,~††§£##
###£§††~,. .,~††§£###
##£§††~,.. †† ..,~††§£##
#£§††~,... †† †† ...,~††§£#
£§††~,.... ~~~~~~~ † † ~~~~~~~ ....,~††§£
§††~,..... †† †† .....,~††§
††~,...... †† ......,~††
†~,....... .......,~†
~,........ I Quickly Sneak Out, And Climb Into The ........,~
,......... Other Building. The Contrast Is .........,
.......... Overwhelming. It Must Have Stood ..........
.......... Derelict For A Long Time, Windows ..........
.......... Broken, Metallic Trash And Pools Of ..........
.......... Dark Glass All Over The Floor. No ..........
.......... Electric Lights, But I Can See By The ..........
,......... Light That Shines In Wherever The Dark .........,
~,........ Windows Are Missing A Pane. ........,~
†~,....... .......,~†
††~,...... However, The Greatest Difference Is The ......,~††
§††~,..... Higher Floors: This Building Has None. .....,~††§
£§††~,.... It Is One Massive Hall, Stretching Away ....,~††§£
#£§††~,... Infinitely Above Me. Somewhere Up There ...,~††§£#
##£§††~,.. Is Some Great Iron Latticework, From ..,~††§£##
###£§††~,. Where Chains Are Suspended, And Parts .,~††§£###
##£§††~,.. Of Machinery Has Been Falling Down. ..,~††§£##
#£§††~,... ...,~††§£#
£§††~,.... There Is, In The Middle Of The Great ....,~††§£
§††~,..... Hall, A Thin Spiral Staircase That .....,~††§
††~,...... Leads Up There. I Sneak Over There, And ......,~††
†~,....... Take A Few Reluctant Steps. After Just .......,~†
~,........ A Revolution, I Notice That For Each ........,~
,......... Step The Building Starts To Glow, The .........,
.......... Bricks Turning A Dark Red, And Then ..........
.......... Orange, All The Piled Up Debree Being ..........
.......... Lit From Behind. ..........
.......... ..........
.......... I Stop Ready To Run Down And Out, But ..........
,......... There'S Someone Else On The Staircase .........,
~,........ With Me Now, Pressed Close. He'S ........,~
†~,....... Looking Like Me, Short Hair And Thin .......,~†
††~,...... Arms, But With Ears From Some Animal, ......,~††
§††~,..... And More Disturbingly, Completely Made .....,~††§
£§††~,.... Of Dark Liquid glass. ....,~††§£
#£§††~,... ...,~††§£#
##£§††~,.. †† ..,~††§£##
###£§††~,. †† †† .,~††§£###
##£§††~,.. ~~~~~~~ † † ~~~~~~~ ..,~††§£##
#£§††~,... †† †† ...,~††§£#
£§††~,.... †† ....,~††§£
§††~,..... .....,~††§
††~,...... My Fear Holds Me In Place While He ......,~††
†~,....... Starts Operating Levers And Dials Set .......,~†
~,........ In The Center Of The Staircase. Slowly, ........,~
,......... It Starts Spinning, Circling Upwards. .........,
.......... It'S An Elevator! I Start To Run ..........
.......... Downwards, But Now The Liquid Boy ..........
.......... Creature Grabs Hold Of Me. I Try To ..........
.......... Shake Him Off, But He'S Too Strong, And ..........
.......... Pulls Me Back Up Beside Him. ..........
,......... .........,
~,........ This Time, I Turn Angry Instead. What ........,~
†~,....... The Hell? Who Is This Guy, Acting Like .......,~†
††~,...... This? I Reach Out My Free Arm And Slam ......,~††
§††~,..... A Random Lever. Some Metal Bar Is .....,~††§
£§††~,.... Suddenly Released Between Us, Hitting ....,~††§£
#£§††~,... Him On The Arm, Forcing My Release. I ...,~††§£#
##£§††~,.. Shove Him Off Of Me, And He Falls Into ..,~††§£##
###£§††~,. The Levers, Messing Them Up. .,~††§£###
##£§††~,.. Immediately, A Thin Rusty Chainmail ..,~††§£##
#£§††~,... Curtain Is Dropped Around Me. But The ...,~††§£#
£§††~,.... Elevator Also Speeds Up Significantly. ....,~††§£
§††~,..... .....,~††§
††~,...... The Walls Are Flaring Now, Yellow, ......,~††
†~,....... White, Almost Blue. I Close My Eyes And .......,~†
~,........ Curl Into A Ball. But Then, The Glass ........,~
,......... Boy Screams, A Piercing Sound That .........,
.......... Forces My Eyes Back Open. I Watch As He ..........
.......... Becomes Too Liquid, His Body Pooling ..........
.......... Down In His Now Massive Tail, And The ..........
.......... Tip Of It Suddenly Breaks Of In A Glass ..........
.......... Drop That Falls Toward The Factory ..........
,......... Floor. .........,
~,........ ........,~
†~,....... He'S Crawling On The Stairs, Unable To .......,~†
††~,...... Keep His Body Upright. Can'T Reach The ......,~††
§††~,..... Levers, Claws At My Chainmail Cage, .....,~††§
£§††~,.... While His Body Is Turning Into Dark ....,~††§£
#£§††~,... Pearls. Finally, He'S Lost Too Much Of ...,~††§£#
##£§††~,.. Himself And The Scream Is Cut Short. ..,~††§£##
###£§††~,. The Last Of Him Rains Down. .,~††§£###
##£§††~,.. ..,~††§£##
#£§††~,... I Still Can'T Reach The Levers From ...,~††§£#
£§††~,.... Within My Cage. Looking Up, I Try To ....,~††§£
§††~,..... Make Out The Ceiling, But It'S All A .....,~††§
††~,...... Whirling Sea Of Colours. Below Me Glows ......,~††
†~,....... The Hellfire Of The Factory Walls, But .......,~†
~,........ Very Faint. I Sit Down, Curl Back Up, ........,~
,......... Become Still. .........,
.......... ..........
.......... †† ..........
.......... †† †† ..........
.......... ~~~~~~~ † † ~~~~~~~ ..........
.......... †† †† ..........
,......... †† .........,
~,........ ........,~
†~,....... A Large Clunk Shakes My Entire Body, .......,~†
††~,...... And Snaps Me Back Into Reality. I'M ......,~††
§††~,..... Back At The Factory Floor, But The .....,~††§
£§††~,.... Stairs Are Still Moving Slightly, ....,~††§£
#£§††~,... Clicking In Place, Carrying Me The Last ...,~††§£#
##£§††~,.. Few Centimeters. I Came From Below, ..,~††§£##
###£§††~,. Somehow. The Chainmail Is Retracted, .,~††§£###
##£§††~,.. And I Slowly Dismount The Stairs. ..,~††§£##
#£§††~,... ...,~††§£#
£§††~,.... Shaking And Crying, I Make My Way Over ....,~††§£
§††~,..... The Factory Floor, Wading Through Dark .....,~††§
††~,...... Glass Marbles. A Quick Glance Down, And ......,~††
†~,....... I See There'S Something Faint Inside .......,~†
~,........ Them. Embryos? Are These Eggs? ........,~
,......... .........,
.......... I Shudder, And Climb Back Out. ..........
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